Plot Lines Galore As Wilk Heads To Dallas
Posted by: Team Manager Bob Wilber
DALLAS (September 15, 2014) -- The AAA Texas Fall Nationals have always been a big and important stop on the NHRA Mello Yello tour, even in the pre-Countdown years. Now, as the second of six races in the Countdown playoffs, it's nothing short of critical when it comes to any racer's championship aspirations, but this weekend the hopes and dreams of many professional racers will be doubled, perhaps even squared, by the force of Mother Nature.
With the first round of Top Fuel and Funny Car racing in the books at Charlotte, conditions conspired to cause the postponement of the remainder of the event and, therefore, this weekend at the Texas Motorplex the professional classes will take on the enormous task of finishing one race while completely contesting another. It's an unprecedented solution in the modern era of NHRA competition.
Tim Wilkerson will be a part of this unusual scenario, thanks to his impressive win over Jack Beckman in round one in Charlotte. Wilk's 4.067-second run easily moved him on to the next round, but at the time he had little inkling that the remainder of the Charlotte race would actually be contested in Big D.
"Basically, from start to finish it was a very unusual weekend in Charlotte," Wilk said. "The weather was sketchy from the time we got there, and each night it rained a bit more. It also rained pretty heavily early in the week and I'm sure that didn't help in the overall scheme of things. What we ended up with was a set of circumstances that were hard on the racers, hard on the Safety Safari, and hard on the fans.
"Then, just to throw the last wrench into the works, Sunday was completely different than the other days. It was way cooler and the air was better, so we had the chance to kind of jump all over it. We actually skipped the final qualifying run because it was still so hot and humid and I didn't see any way we could improve, but on Sunday we threw the works at it and made a really good lap. After that, it was just a matter of if and when we could finish the race, especially after it rained again. This isn't the solution you'd dream up as the best option, but it's what we have to work with and we'll make the best of it."
In essence, this weekend in Dallas will consist of two races, two trophies, and twice the implications in terms of points. By winning his opening-round race against Beckman, while Del Worsham lost his opener in Charlotte to Jeff Arend, Wilk has already moved up one notch to ninth place in the Mello Yello points. With seven more potential rounds of racing left in Dallas, what the standings will look like on Monday can hardly be imagined.
"I've never been a part of anything like this, so I don't really know how it's going to go and I'm not sure what to expect, other than there are going to be an awful lot of points up for grabs in just a couple of days," Wilk said. "If you take a peek at the points right now, you might as well erase that view from your memory because once we get to Sunday night it's all going to be completely different. Seven rounds of racing in one weekend is something none of us have even considered before.
"The good news is we've done this sort of format in a way, with the Traxxas Shootout, but there aren't points at stake in that special event. The Traxxas race happens in conjunction with qualifying in Indy, so we know how to do it and we know how to juggle qualifying and racing at the same time. What's going to be really important is to get solidly in the Dallas field before the Charlotte rounds start. That way you can focus on a race-day approach and not have to walk a tightrope where you're trying to win rounds and qualify for a race at the same time. Those are two very different approaches to tuning and driving, and it's hard to do both at once."
Two races, two trophies, and a boatload of points. It's all up for grabs this weekend in Big D.
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